Forever Unstoppable
by perfectromanceinmymind
Summary: Mercedes and Sam head back to Lima for Mike & Tina's wedding. Companion to my Christmas story, but you don't have to read that one to get this one.


_~Friday afternoon~_

"Longest drive ever," Mercedes Jones grumbled as she shifted in the passenger seat of her fiancé's truck.

From his spot behind the wheel, Sam Evans glanced at her with a grin. "Not quite as long as the drive from Nashville to New York."

Mercedes rolled her eyes, but had to concede the point. "Okay, fine, but at least at the end of those drives we knew we were going to be seeing each other and that made it seem not quite so long."

"The drives there, maybe," Sam replied. "The drives back _sucked_."

Damnit, he was right again. "Okay, fine. Even though you know we hardly ever made the full drive to one city or the other. But you are just determined to talk me out of complaining, aren't you?"

Her first point was also true. They had spent a lot of weekends in the mountains of Virginia during their college years, each driving six to eight hours each way so that neither had to drive the full twenty-eight hour round trip and they could actually spend a relatively decent amount of time together.

Sam grinned again. "I hate when you complain," he said simply, removing his right hand from the steering wheel, grabbing her left hand and bringing it to his lips for a quick kiss, admiring the ring on her fourth finger for just a moment before letting her hand go.

Mercedes smiled. "When the hell did you get so smooth?" she wondered.

Sam shrugged. "I practice," he said solemnly before catching her eye and seeing the 'the hell?' look she was giving him and breaking into laughter just before she did too.

Mercedes shook her head. "It's still a long drive," she said, but in a tone that was not complaining, just stating fact. "Mike and Tina better be serving a kick-ass meal tonight and tomorrow."

Mike and Tina's wedding weekend was the reason they were making the nearly seven hour drive to Lima a mere six weeks after their Christmas visit. Mercedes was of course excited for her friends, but it's hard to be stuck in a car that long no matter what the reason.

Sam laughed. "As long as there's no chicken feet involved."

"Or panda hair," Mercedes muttered, shuddering at the memory of that first vicious hangover.

"Don't forget brunch at the hotel Sunday morning too," he added. "Speaking of, are your parents upset we're not staying with them?"

Mercedes shook her head. "I don't think so. I think they get that this visit isn't about visiting family; it's about celebrating with our friends. It's the first 'real' Glee wedding," she mused, thinking out loud.

It was not the first Glee wedding but it was the first that was totally planned, with a ceremony, reception and actual guests. Finn and Rachel had been first, surprising all of them the previous May. It was not the first time the couple had surprised them. Finn had blown all of their minds by actually signing a contract with the Army and going to a military college in the Georgia mountains north of Atlanta. Somehow, the relationship had survived while Rachel was in New York. About a month before graduation and commissioning as an officer, they had suddenly realized that Finn could get assigned anywhere and he'd flown to New York and they'd run off to City Hall to get married, hoping that being married and Rachel's burgeoning career needing her to stay in New York would work in their favor. Somehow, it did and Finn was now stationed at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn.

The real surprise had been that Finn and Rachel had been the first by only about ten minutes. They'd dragged Kurt and Blaine along to be their witnesses and the duo impulsively decided to get married too.

Mercedes had been in class, phone turned off, and she'd forgotten to turn it back on until she met up with Tina that afternoon. She'd had about a zillion texts and too many missed calls and vaguely hysterical sounding voicemails to count. But it had been a joyous day and all of them who were in New York at the time went out to celebrate that night. She remembered thinking that the only thing that would have made it better would have been Sam being there to enjoy it too.

She turned in her seat to look at him and told him as much. "I'm glad you're here for this one."

Sam smiled. "Me too," he replied, reaching for her hand again as they rolled on through the Ohio countryside.

_~Friday evening~_

"_Well_," Mercedes said triumphantly as they returned to their hotel room after the rehearsal dinner that night. "Now I know why Puck didn't ride up here with us."

Puck had also made the move to Nashville, finding his niche in the country-rock scene in the city. The running joke among the New Directions was that Puck, of all people, had been the first to sing on Broadway; Broadway being, in this case, one of the main drags in downtown Nashville. It was a silly thing, but they all found it kinda hilarious anyway. Sam had asked Puck earlier in the week if he wanted to ride up with them and split the cost of gas, but he'd declined. Which was odd and Sam and Mercedes had both been wondering about why.

Sam raised an eyebrow. "You barely talked to Puck tonight."

Mercedes grinned. "I found out from Quinn."

"Ah," Sam replied as he shrugged out of his suit jacket and flopped onto the bed. "I saw her drag you off to a corner for an epically long chat session."

Mercedes just kept smiling. "She had a lot to catch me up on," she said, a little cryptically and Sam rolled his eyes.

"I know it's killing you – just tell me what you know already," he said with a mock long-suffering sigh.

Mercedes laughed as she pulled off her heels and tossed them next to her suitcase. "Quinn's moving to Nashville!" she exclaimed as she sat down beside him.

Sam blinked. "What? Seriously?"

Mercedes watched him, waiting for it to click –

"Wait – her and _Puck_? After all this time?"

Mercedes nodded. "Yep. When we were here at Christmas, remember we all went out after serving at the shelter? And they left the bar together? And none of us thought anything of it?"

Sam nodded and Mercedes continued. "Yeah. They – um, shall we say, rekindled some feelings that evening?"

Sam couldn't help but laugh at her choice of words. "I guess so," he commented.

Mercedes laughed. "Yeah. Anyway, Quinn said she's been thinking about branching out on her own for a while now, but didn't know if she wanted to stay in Connecticut or give somewhere else a try. This settled it for her. Her boss, Allison, is going to be her backer and I kind of agreed for us to be her first clients."

Quinn had gone to Yale and, in a freshman year business class, had been required to do an internship with a local business. She'd been paired up with Allison Owens, who owned an event planning service. With Quinn's organizational skills and need for perfection, it had been a great fit and when the semester was over, Allison had kept her as an employee. Always the overachiever, Quinn had finished her degree in only three and a half years and had been working full time with Allison for just over a year now.

Sam contemplated this for a minute. "So – my ex-girlfriend is gonna plan our wedding."

It was a statement, not a question and Mercedes just rolled her eyes. "She was your girlfriend for about five minutes almost ten years ago. I don't think it's an issue."

Sam laughed. His fiancée's endless supply of confidence was only one of many things he loved about her. "You know it's not an issue," he replied.

Mercedes grinned. "Damn right," she agreed, standing up and turning her back to him. "Unzip me, please?"

Sam stood up and reached for the zipper at the top of her dress. "You trying to make sure?" he said softly, his breath tickling the back of her neck.

Mercedes shivered but managed to keep her voice steady. "Nope," she said flippantly.

Sam ginned as he slid the zipper down, following its path down her back with a trail of kisses. "Good," he murmured as he stood back up and kissed the back of her neck as he pushed her dress off her shoulders. "'Cause you absolutely don't need to."

Mercedes smiled as she stepped out of the dress pooled at her feet and turned to face him, hands quickly going to the buttons on his shirt as he pulled her against him for a kiss, Mercedes giggling as they fell back on the bed.

"Hey 'Cedes," Sam whispered between kisses.

"Mmm?"

"I'm really glad we're not staying at your parents' house."

Mercedes just laughed. "Sam?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and get the rest of those clothes off."

He complied.

_~Saturday night~_

It had been a beautiful wedding. The ceremony had gone smoothly, Tina was a gorgeous bride and Mike everything a handsome groom should be.

The reception was rapidly becoming an awesome party and Mercedes smiled as she watched her old friends dancing in various combinations.

Sam returned to the table and handed her one of the drinks he was carrying.

"What are you smiling at?" he asked as he sat down beside her.

Mercedes shrugged. "Everything," she said. "Hanging out with our friends, seeing Mike and Tina so happy, knowing –"

"Knowing that we're next?" Sam finished the sentence for her and she beamed at him.

"Exactly." She glanced across the dance floor, looking at Quinn dancing with Kurt and Puck taking the bride for a spin. She nudged Sam, nodding her head in their direction.

"Puck and Quinn have been studiously avoiding each other – they don't want anyone else to know yet," she said quietly. "Let's help them out – I'll dance with Puck, you can take Tina and move her over to Kurt. Once you're dancing with Quinn, we'll switch."

Sam grinned. "Got it."

It took a little maneuvering through at least a song and half, but eventually she was back in Sam's arms, looking over his shoulder at Quinn mouthing 'thank you' at her from her spot in Puck's arms.

"Matchmaker," Sam teased.

"Nah," she replied, smiling up at him. "Just want everyone to be as happy as we are." She sighed happily. "I still can't quite believe that the next wedding we'll be dancing at will be ours."

"It all started with a dance," Sam said, not exactly apropos of anything, but Mercedes knew what he meant and she smiled as he pulled her closer before the song ended and the music switched to a faster tempo.

Sam couldn't help singing along as they moved to the music, spinning and shimmying together. Mercedes had heard the song before, but couldn't help letting it take on a deeper meaning as it reached the second verse and Sam sang along, _'__yeah we've both been touched by the same flame /don't worry, I've got you, I won't let you burn/you and I got played by the same game/we're in it together, for better or worse…'_

_Better or worse_, Mercedes thought, remembering how Tina and Mike had said those words a few hours ago – thinking of how she and Sam would say them in just a few more months – she was so _lucky_.

"I love you," she leaned in to whisper to him as the song came to an end.

"Love you too," he replied with a smile as he kissed her.

Mercedes laughed suddenly. "Would it be really corny of me to say best. wedding. ever. right now?"

"A little. Besides, this can't be the best. That title has to be reserved for our wedding. Right?"

"Right."

**Note: The song is "Forever Unstoppable" by Hot Chelle Rae. I've been resisting writing anything with it because of the cheesiness of it being Chord's brother's band, but that verse has just been stuck in my head and so I had to do something. Hope you enjoyed – please let me know!**


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